In Australia a couple of academics are gathering a media library of images that show our curvier brothers and sisters living their lives, to counter the oft used negatives images of their depiction in the media. For once there isn’t the ridiculous neck to knee shots of our more Rubenesque community members. Instead there are pictures of people doing the things they enjoy, without their humanity being called into question.

We are currently engaged in a project with the aim of producing an image library that more fully represents the lived experience of obesity in a non-stigmatising manner. The images show people engaged in activities such as bike riding, shopping for fashionable clothes and applying makeup – depictions that challenge the image of the slovenly and lazy obese subject.

What stunned me was some of the comments that appeared at the bottom of the article. All those logical fallacies come out in abundance: correlation being equated to causation, anecdote = fact, etc etc. (If anyone reads the comments, they have the potential to be triggering.) I think the best comment made is by someone who is called Kissindra, who says:

Plenty have said it before but it is worth repeating – you know what you can tell from looking at me? That I am fat. You cannot tell what I eat, if I am lazy, how much I exercise, how professional I am or if I am healthy…but because of unrelenting media negativity many people see my fat and asign me a whole host of negative views and don’t stop for a second to consider if they are wrong.

I think projects like this are necessary. Given the vast array of human body shapes and sizes, I hate the level of body policing that goes on.

There was a follow up article to the one above, about the issue of health and size that also drew the ire of the concern trolls, and the body police. (That can be found here.)

Once again some of the comments were pretty appalling, but I thought a couple stood out for me, that once again reinforces my view that body policing and concern trolling have no part in people’s health and well-being, whatever their size and shape.

I thought I would leave this quick hit with a couple of comments that made my day:

Francis Lockie:

Shame and stigma are NOT motivation. If it were, we’d all be thin right now. Every fat person has had a gutful (GEDDIT?!) of shame. It hasn’t worked.

HAES means health at every size for the population, not the individual. That means health can exist along of spectrum of sizes, not that every obese individual is automatically healthy.

I find it amazing that you think that HAES – with its tenets of mindful eating and enjoyable exercise – has nothing to do with an individual taking responsibility for their health. Like, that’s so ridiculous I don’t know where to start.

Halla O:

…when faced with healthy, fit, fat people who don’t indulge in any of the stereotypical behaviours you scoff at in your comment, what do you think? Being fat is not the issue, telling people they are worthless because they are fat is.

I’d prefer if everyone adopted healthy behaviours (and had access to nutritious food) but do you know what? It isn’t my business to tell others how to live with their bodies and it’s not theirs to tell me what’s best for mine.

And I though the best one was by a commenter called Kath Read:

And yet again, a whole swathe of people don’t actually read what the article is saying, and totally miss the point.
There is no amount of evidence that can be presented that will sway these people who need to feel superior to someone, anyone that:

a) fat does not equal lazy/greedy/stupid
b) that fat people actually DO lead active, healthful lives yet still remain fat
c) health is not some hierarchy of social value
d) shame cures nothing
e) human bodies are not lawnmowers, the law of thermodynamics does not apply to a complex organic being
f) that other people’s bodies/health are not their business.

They cling to this notion that by way of the size or shape of their body they are superior to those who are fat because without that sense of superiority, they feel worthless. So they make fat people feel worthless instead.

Fat people are not worthless. They are not inferior to thin people. They do not need to “prove” their health, their lives, their worth to anyone.

I deeply appreciate what the authors of this article are doing – it’s a hell of a fight to try to change this archaic, messed up thinking. But as the comments on the previous article, and this one prove, there are always going to be those who cling to their superiority complex in the vain hope that they can push someone further down the social ladder than themselves.

Mackey, would you say that there’s a difference between discussing overall societal weight trends and the kind of body policing you reference? That is, is it possible to suggest that, say, Americans have an obesity problem without saying that any individual is worth less because of his or her body shape? My understanding is that to some degree, obesity is related to class and income, and those translate to the availability of healthy food choices. So to say that obesity and income are correlated (if they are) should be the beginning of a discussion about how to solve that and make healthy ingredients available and affordable to all.

MM: I think, at least initially, you need to back up even further with your question. You start from the beginning using the term “obesity problem.” I think this is where the discussion really needs to start, since it is the basis for the rest of the argument.

All the data shows that Americans are getting bigger. No disputing it. However, the dominant way of measuring obesity in this country is STILL the BMI. The BMI is a horribly flawed and inaccurate measure of weight and health. I am considered nearly obese by the BMI standard, despite having less than 15% body fat – my weight comes from muscle. Mostly all the people in my gym could be classified the same way, despite not actually being obese and being in excellent health. So, the first problem is that the numbers are actually skewed – because not every person the government labels as obese actually is.

The second problem is that using the obesity data to infer the state of health in this nation is flawed. Unless the government is keeping track of every overweight person in this country, it is a logical fallicy to assume that every one of those people is unhealthy. Many are unhealthy; many are not. Many thin people are deeply unhealthy – but no connection between their size and health issues is drawn automatically. The data about increasing weights is used to infer bad health – and such an inference really isn’t supported by the evidence.

Is there evidence that Americans are having health issues? Sure. Is diabetes on the rise? Yes it is. However, is every one of those diabetics obese or overweight? Hell no. Does diabetes often occur in obese people? Yup. Does that automatically support the conclusion that diabetes is the RESULT of weight gain? No! But that is basically what is assumed now – and all that does is shame fat people.

Basically, I think we need to let go of the belief that data showing that Americans are getting larger is, in and of itself, cause for concern. Americans need access to better food, more options and resources to help them exercise choice in food. That is a noble goal in and of itself. The problem I have with most of the arguments though is that they rely on scare tactics about weight and size to promote an otherwise good cause. What happens if America starts providing citizens with healthy, better foods and our collective weight doesn’t decrease (because after all, you can just as easily meet a high caloric content with healthy foods too)? That may very well happen. But as long as we have fat people, we have the scapegoats who can carry the agenda.

So I think societal weight trends shouldn’t really be part of the equation. Good food should be a right of citizens regardless of weight or size.

So you’re saying that an increase in average weight is not in and of itself a matter of concern, right? Well, but we do have a lot of evidence connecting obesity (real obesity, not measurable muscle mass as in your case) and a whole list of health problems. And those are across the economic spectrum, as I understand it.

I am in complete agreement with your last sentence, but I’m not sure I see how recording, studying, and analyzing national health trends is a bad thing. Using the information to slam people is both bad and counterproductive, of course. But knowing what’s going on is valuable, if for no other reason than that it’s ammunition in the war against Big Ag and the chemical-laden, overprocessed garbage they want us to eat.

Are other countries experiencing an increase in the size of their citizens comparable to what we’re seeing?

MM: Yes, other first-world nations are also experiencing rising weights of the citizenry across the board, though I do not think any of them are quite on par with the US quite yet. However, it is a global phenomenon.

On your first point: the problem I had with your initial statement was that it started out with the assumption that obesity is inherently a problem. And saying that obesity is linked to a ton of health issues actually isn’t totally true – this is good article by Kate Harding that debunks a lot of arguments that obesity is inherently unhealthy: http://jezebel.com/5356697/fat-vs-fiction

I’d also recommend Harding’s post at her own blog (which I can’t link to at the moment) called “Don’t You Know Fat is Unhealthy?” A lot of the conditions that have been allegedly linked to obesity and weight really haven’t; they’ve only been shown to be comorbid in many people.

Long story short: No, obesity itself is not linked to a whole host of health issues. The media and others like to argue this because it makes it easier to demonize fat people and treat them like less. So, in short, there isn’t any “obesity problem.” We have a food resource problem, a problem with producing cheap foods that are not healthy (and healthy has never meant low in claories), and a major problem with accepting fat people. But I think to say America has an obesity problem misses the mark a bit.

Leaving aside the fact that a person’s health is not something to be discussed by random strangers (whatever happened to minding one’s own business?), I agree with all the commenters who say that one can’t tell whether people are healthy just by looking at them.

I live this issue every day but from the other side of the coin. My body looks healthy but I am not healthy. I have a disabling chronic illness but it’s not visible to the casual observer.

It’s not even just that obesity and other frequently associated health problems are comorbid; in many cases, the obesity is a symptom of the underlying health problem, not a cause of it. Treat a thyroid problem or PCOS appropriately, for example, and often enough a person will lose weight as they respond to the treatment. Funny, that.

I think the thing to remember is that the term “obesity” is a relative and subjective term. And that the meanings attached to the term, in particular how to identify this particular “thing” (I personally don’t like the term obesity, especially now it’s not just a medical term), are loaded with a lot of extra cultural signifiers that do not have any health information attached, and it becomes a public place to comment.

This is where I grind my teeth and get angry. Because nobodies appearance should be subject to public comment, especially by people who have not been consulted by that person for health advice.